Genetic studies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related neuropsychiatric disorders have been overwhelmingly based in the United States and Western Europe. This regional oversampling means that European ancestry is significantly over-represented in studies of autism.

In this lecture, Elise Robinson will discuss the NeuroDev project, a collaboration between the Broad Institute, the Kenyan Medical Research Institute, Oxford University and the University of Cape Town. The project aims to address regional bias, build ASD research capacity in Africa and create a research resource of international value. Over the first four years of data collection at its initial sites, NeuroDev will provide the first extensive, publicly available data set from sub-Saharan Africa on topics ranging from behavior to genetic genotyping. All data and materials collected will be donated to the NIMH. Robinson will also discuss ways in which US-based research can engage with NeuroDev.

Robinson is an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She is also an affiliated faculty member with the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Robinson’s research focuses on the genetic epidemiology of behavior and cognition. She is interested in using genetic data to understand the biology of neurodevelopmental variation and to study differences within and between neuropsychiatric disorders. She received a Sc.D. in psychiatric epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health and completed postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute.